In the event stadium of Etheria, the audiences were flying away in pairs. The clipping event had ended. The boys had all chosen their female partners and clipped their wings in the most painless ways with guidance of healers. Then the wings were attached to the boy's backs, granting them the ability to fly. The girls gained a portion of their spouse's power. The pairs flew off towards their homes. Some of them cast a pitiful glance at the stadium floor before looking away.
Near the center of the stadium, there lied an unmoving boy named Ossian. His beloved Flora created a red streak on the floor as she crawled towards him while bleeding from her back. Her strength and vitality had waned. No healer had come to her aid or of Ossian's who seemed already dead.
"Ossian...Ossian..." Flora rasped and gasped, weeping silently. The cruelty of Etheria was too much. Not only her lower was slain, her wings clipped in everyone's presence but the event had gone on as if nothing was awry. Flora's thoughts however were limited to only Ossian. She prayed with each crawling moment that he was alive. She wished to hold his hand one last time. To whisper in his ear a final goodbye.
Solus landed between the couple, flaunting his blood-stained wings that he had attached to his back surgically with the aid of noble healers.
"Hahaha! Such lovely wings! They match perfectly with my white hairs, don't you think? Wife..." Solus drawled the word 'wife'.
Flora looked up at him hatefully. She was so spent she could lie down and never wake up. She had no reason to anyway. She'd rather death claimed her.
Solus sneered at her, spreading his wings wide. "How do you like my new wings? They match with my awesome hairs, don't they?"
Flora looked down with eyes shimmering with tears of rage. She looked around and found a bone spike. Gripping it she stabbed towards Solus who kicked her hand and cackled.
"Hahaha! I like feisty wenches. You'll be good in bed I bet." Solus stepped forth and pulled her up by the hair. Grinning, he let his other hand slide into her collar.
"I'll stab you in your sleep!" Flora growled, glaring at his eyes.
"Hahaha! A mere stab cannot kill me. Didn't you see your lover stab me earlier? My body heals at lightning speed." Solus boasted.
Shwak! A spear pierced through his chest from the back. Then a bone spike was stabbed into his neck from the side as Ossian crept up from behind. His eyes were vacant.
"Gahh!!" Solus screamed at last as Ossian stabbed him a third time in the ribs and twisted the spike viciously.
"Ossian..." Flora's eyes widened, "I'm sorry..."
Ossian shook his head and embraced Flora. The two of them wept as the enraged nobles flew over. They had had enough of this couple's audacity. Luckily there weren't any commoners left around to witness the humiliation of the noble wards. Even Ossian and Flora's parents had left the stadium to show their respect to the nobility's decision.
But before the nobles could pounce upon Ossian, Solus burned two gaping holes in his stomach, shooting light beams from his eyes. Ossian crumpled to the side in shock and numerous vines grappled him.
"Finish him." Solus snarled as Reclaus emerged, manipulating the vines that started tearing Ossian's flesh apart and invading his body, eating him alive.
"Ossian!" Flora flung her to her lover as he screamed in the squirming mass of flesh-eating vines, but multiple hands grabbed her and pulled her away.
"Enough of this nonsense!" One of the noble elders shouted. "Take her away to the gaol! A few days of punishment should rid her of her impertinence."
"No! Ossian! Leave him alone! Let him live!" Flora screamed, bawling aloud but there were no hearts around her which weren't stone cold. The last she saw of Ossian was him turning grotesquely red with his skin and flesh being devoured. His screams had stopped as his throat had been chewed off.
"Throw him off the edge of Etheria. Rebels like him are to be punished by death according to the law." An elder declared and the vines grew, hoisting the mutilated lad up and away before throwing him outside the rainbow veil.
"Noo...!!!" Flora screamed and screamed before she fainted.
---
In the sandy dunes of Hashiya desert, a quickly fading trail of multiple footsteps could be seen. The setting sun cast its luminance upon a young woman nursing her right leg. The bandage tied around her shin was already stained red along with the sand underneath the leg. The woman panted and gazed at her foes in dread. In this large desert she had no cover, no aid, no help. Death was closing in every moment.
A bandit group stalked towards her, laughing and brandishing their curved blades. As they surrounded her, she stood up trembling and brandished her own curved sword. Her scarfed face and head obscured her features except for her black wax smeared eyes. Her gray eyes glared at her foes as she took a weak stance, favoring her injured leg.
"Heheh, give up now lass. You stood no chance with your armed escorts; you stand no chance now with them dead in the sand." The bandit leader sneered.
"You don't know who you're messing with. You will pay dearly for your transgression!" The woman warned.
"Hehehe! Many of our victims boast like this when they are cornered." The leader chuckled. "They tell us that they are nobles; even royalty! But alas, they are all mere fakers. You; are a beautiful faker. Come join us and we will ravish you gently hehehe."
The bandits laughed while the woman's gaze shined with tears. This was not an end she had envisioned for herself.
"If..." She uttered, coming to a decision. "If I have prayed earnestly to you all my life; please protect me, almighty Allah!"
"Hahaha! What a joke. You think your God will protect you? An angel will fall from the sky and rescue you?" The leader cackled at the hilarity of the moment. "Not even the devil can protect you from us!"
BOOOM!! There was a booming thud behind them. A lot of sand flew up and a powerful trembled unbalanced everyone.
"Graaahh!!! Haahhh!!" A bloodcurdling roar echoed as a fearsome demon stood up.
The demon resembled a human but he had a layer of cracked bones which were flaking off like dry clay, revealing red musculature seeping out blood. He had no skin and his left eye socket was hollow, while the right eye was exuding extreme bloodlust. He turned slowly towards the bandits, stirring up fear in their hearts.